Soho Tea
by Dreamer-Deadly-Nightshade
Summary: What happens when a famous youtuber literally knocks you on your ass in a tea shop in front of everyone? Dan Howell is quiet, antisocial and quiet frankly, mumbly. What does it take to bring him out of his shell and into your socially hectic world. This is your story
1. Encounter

London seemed to bubble away in the background as you sat at your desk. Your morning coffee had gone cold while it sat there unattended. Your thoughts were elsewhere as you started at the computer screen, analytical data staring back at you, begging to be done. Slowly you hand a hand through your hair, loosening it from its pony tail before completely letting it down, grazing your shoulders. It was nearly home as dictated by the little clock on your computer, your fingers ached as you forced them to type out data and quite frankly you didn't massively care about. You thought doing marketing would lead you to do the things you were passionate about, talking to people and understanding what they wanted… from products, so not overly your passion, but it fell into that category.

A pop-up appeared in the bottom of the screen

NEW MESSAGE

EMILY SPRING

Bored: Coffee?

Emily was 3 offices away yet she seemed to be in tune with your inner craving. You replied to the email with a simple ! before hitting the send button. Casually you scrapped your hair back up into a messy pony tail and straightened your shirt. 2 minutes left. Slowly and descretly you try and shove things into you hand bang so you can make a speedy get away in search of Emily and the precious coffee. You see the time has gone past quickly and you stand up, slipping your boots back on. You always took your shoes off when you were at work. Wearing heels was an office must, but wearing them at the desk was more optional than people believe. Quickly tottering out of the office you make your way down the hallway until you finally reach the lift. Waiting in the throng of people is Emily. Her hair is redder than usual today, a sure sign she has dyed it… also a sure sign that she is planning on going out later and most likely dragging you with her. Her round face seems to light up as she notices your approach. She has naturally lightly tanned skin which has always made you look even paler when stood next to her. Her baggy Adventure Time top was tucked into the waist band of her pencil skirt. "I've always wondered, how the heck have you been able to get away with dressing like that at work?" You ask as you subconsciously tuck at your skirt, it was nowhere near as figure hugging as hers. "Because I'm gorgeous and all blokes in this place wanna fuck me?" She glanced at you and winked, her smile spreading to her eyes. A few people in front turned around at her comment, throwing her disapproving glances. You grinned despite yourself and moved closer to her as the lift doors opened, allowing those desperate to leave the office to flee. You linked arms together and patiently waited for the lift to start moving. No one spoke in the lift, that kind of conversation wasn't considered exactly normal. Unless of course you were Emily, who was quiet happily chattering away to you about this new "totally fabulous" independent coffee shop that had opened up just around the corner from the flat in Soho. You were mentally going through your weekly food shopping list as she dragged you out the building and round the corner. There are several problems with living in London, the tourists, the traffic and the ability to get a taxi at 1 am when your tights were ripped to name just a few. The worst one though is the Friday night office escape, where all those who work 9-5 week days make a dash on a Friday evening to freedom. Emily dragged you through other office workers, some you recognised and some you didn't. The tube was packed already, filled with people in suits, teens in very little clothing giggling together and couples sitting holding hands. You held onto the pole in the middle of the carriage, it was warm from someone else's body heat. You silently thanked them for that little unexpected pleasure, while subconsciously wiping your hand upon exiting the train.

The shop looked very normal from the outside. Steamy window, large letters saying "SOHO TEA – BETTER THAN YOU'D EXPECT" in large red letters. Typical advertising for the area, it was the creative hub of London, both sexual and explosive at the same time. Emily pulled you inside, finally allowing your arm to drop. Inside the shop it was warm, warmer than the office. The smell of coffee mingled with pastries filled the air, making you breathe deeply, just to fill your lungs with the scent. The shop itself was dark, light by several lamps which emitted an orange glow over the seats. There were several tables, all wooden, surrounded by chairs which had cushions on them. The lights cast dancing orange blurs over the cakes cabinet at the far end of the shop, towards which Emily was heading. Obediently you followed, your hand resting on your handbag as you weaved between the tables and chairs that were occupied. "I hear this place makes the best coffee! I'm so excited, oh my lord I wonder if they have caramel syrup! I totally need some of that shit in me right now." Emily babbled happily, in her element surrounded by the smell off coffee and the warm atmosphere. You smiled faintly, your attention drawn to the cakes. Dark chocolate icing seemed to cling to the side of a massive slab of cake, small scones lay balanced perfectly upon one another and croissant's lay, their pastry a golden brown in the display lights.

There was a sound from behind you and you glanced over you shoulder, just in time to see a man trip over a chair leg and fall straight into you. You staggered, bumping into Emily. Your arms automatically went round the person in order to steady yourself and him, however, your combined weights caused the pair of you to go crashing to the floor. A searing pain went through your backside as you landed heavily on the wooden floor.

"Oh my god, I am SO sorry!" the man spluttered. Sitting on the floor, the stranger was half lying on top of you, half sitting in your lap. He straightened immediately and pushed himself up. He wore skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt with an ordinary navy hoodie over the top. You blink several times trying to catch your breath and focus on not blushing. "Its-its alright" you manage to say before a couple of hands help you to your feet. You notice that it was the stranger who pulled you up from the front and Emily pushing you up from behind. You laugh, faking a smile because you know if you don't laugh about it, you might cry with embarrassment. You look at his face. Hes lightly tanned, like Emily and has one of those daft emo haircuts that went out of fashion in 2008, but it suits him, framing his face. His dark eyes scan yours as though looking for something. Your ears start to burn. "Are you alright?" He says, his voice laced with concern. You blink back tears but defiantly look him in the face and grin. "Yeah I'm good, ass is abit sore but I'll survive." He seems to relax a little and he exhales. "Well, er… sorry about that." He says, glancing over your head to the front of the counter. "Sorry, they always know to get my order when I come in so…"

"oh sorry.." You mumble as you move out of his way. He gets to the front and grabs a take away cup that is handed to him. He catches your eye as he walks back towards the entrance of the shop. "Sorry.." he muttered again, glancing down at the floor before he exited SOHO TEA.

"So that's your claim to fame then!" Emily chirped from in front of you, grinning. Your tea ordered, you sat beside her on one of the avalible chairs at a small table near the front of the shop. The soft cushions didn't do anything to ease the ache in your ass. "I'm sorry?" You ask, warming your hands around your cup. "You essentially just got run over by The DanIsNotOnFire, Dan Howell!"


	2. Coffee

You sat, clutching your coffee in confusion, your eyes locked with Emily's. "I'm sorry, who now?" you asked, steam gently rising upwards and obscuring your view. Emily's jaw dropped and her astonished gasp caused those next to you to throw disapproving looks your way. "OH MY GOD YOU DON'T KNOW WHO DANISNOTONFIREIS?!" She shrieked, causing you shift back in your seat a little. "Oh my lord, do you live under a rock? Who the fuck do you watch on youtube?!" You blink several times before sheepishly looking into your cup. "Cat videos and such…" you mumble, taking a long sip of your hot cholate, the marshmallows floating on the surface. You couldn't meet her gauze as her dark brown eyes bore into your forehead. Gently a hand took yours and lowered your mug. Looking up, you saw Emily's face looking at you with a mixture of sadness and pity. "Oh my love…. You've missed out on so much" she cooed and you swotted her away, feeling your ears go red. She burst out laughing at your embarrassment as your face turned a similar colour to your ears. She allowed you to sulk momentarily before passing you her phone. A video was buffering before his face filled the screen. "Hi guys, today I thought Idmakeavideo…. What do you mean you can't understand me?!"

You blinked several times, slightly overwhelmed by the phone shoved in your face. "S-so?" You manage to stammer out, placing your cup back down on the table so it wouldn't spill. "so?" Emily asked, her eyes seemingly penetrating your skull. "So, you literally just got knocked onto your butt in front of everyone by a famous vlogger! Oh my god I need to tweet this!" You cringed away slightly and picked up your cup, draining the contents quickly. "I need to go out for a cig, promise you won't do anything embarrassing while I'm gone?" She looked up at you, her eyes seemingly becoming innocent from their previous, devious state. "Moi? I'll behave." You got up and ignored the people who stared at you as you left, though you felt your ears going pink again. Finally out in the cool air, a gentle wave of relief rolled over your whole body. Leaning against the outside wall of the coffee shop, you glanced in through the large window which was ever so slightly steamed up at the bottom. You pulled out a cigarette from the packet in your pocket along with the lighter, quickly and effectively lighting up. You look a very long drag, feeling the smoke filling your lungs. Emily was on her phone, frantically typing, and no doubt texting someone, anyone, about the embarrassment that had just occurred. Your stomach dropped as your phone pinged. It was a picture text from Emily , you were faced with a twitter screenshot.

Emeth93 tweeted : Danisnotonfire omg I can't believe you knocked my friend over! She at least deserves your number or summit bro!

You ground your teeth ever so slightly and glanced back through the window. Emily was staring at you intently and started grinning and waving all innocently as soon as you caught her eye. You didn't even use twitter…. At least since you were like 15. You flicked ash away, unaware of how much you had been pulling on the cig. You rested your head back against the glass, aware that your nice clean shirt was probably going to smell like fag ends now. You glanced down at the stick between your fingers. Nearly finished anyway. You look one long last drag on the thing before flicking it into the gutter and exhaling. There was nothing you could do now… it was out there… on the internet… for everyone to see. Slowly you plodded back into the café, weaving in between the chairs until you sat opposite your grinning friend. She had her phone out, music playing softly in the background. Probably the Kim Kardashian game or something.

She didn't look at you as she casually sipped her coffee, playing with her phone one handed. She knew she had pissed you off, she knew you had seen…. She just knew. Her phone pinged loudly, though this noise was nothing to the shriek she let out. "OMERGERDDDDD HE REPLIED!" grabbing your face, she pulled you over the table so you could see her phone which she was shoving in your face. You couldn't see past all the blur of pixels in front of you, but your heart jumped in your chest. "Em, I can't see that close to my face…" you muttered, taking a swipe at her hand, pushing it back a little so you could actually read the screen. She had the brightness turned up too bright and you had to swint to read the message.

Danisnotonfire Emeth93 I am such a fail and awkward I'm so sorry! I really hope your friend is not hurt and is okay, I was in such a rush to get my coffee.

You glanced over the top of the phone at Emily; her face was light up like a 5 year old at Christmas. Raising an eyebrow, you placed two fingers on top of the phone and pushed it down, out of your view. "Yeah… so?"

"So… SO?! He replied! Star's never do that!" She babbled, waving her phone in the air with utter jubilance, causing more people to look over at you reproachfully. Getting up and grabbing your jumper from your seat, you pulled her up with you. Weaving through the chairs and the maze of legs, you both broke out into the afternoon sunshine. A soft breeze picked up a few strands of hair and tugged them across Emily's face, but she didn't seem to notice. "Stop smiling at me like that." You said, but it was infectious. A small grin twitched the corner of your lips as she squealed and threw her arms around you, a bubble of laughter erupting from inside her chest and right in your ear. You both staggered down the street, Emily still with her arms around your shoulders, half leaning on you, half walking beside you; both of you laughing like it was the only thing you knew how to do. Finally when you rounded the corner onto the busier road, she let go and instead slipped her arm through yours and you walked down the London streets together. You let her babble on excitedly about what this could mean and your future with Dan and how many children you were going to have together, she never even gave you a chance to respond.

"Well obviously you would live in Kensington, or wait, maybe you would move away from London! Maybe somewhere rural and you guys could like… well, no while you may be a country lass, he hates the outside."

The wind caused your dark hair to fly back from your face and you extracted yourself from Emily for a few moments to pull your jumper over your head. She walked on ahead, oblivious, still chatting to thin air as though you were still by her side. Head through hole, arms through sleeves, the warmth embraced you like an old friend and you rubbed your hands over your forearms, looking at her retreating back, you shook your head and smiled. "Idiot…" you breathed, a soft chuckle escaping from you. There was someone running through the crowds on the other side of the street that caught your eye, they were moving faster than everyone else. He had dark hair that was plastered over his forehead, his face was obviously normally pale, but a soft flush had bruised his cheeks and his arms were pumping manically. You raised your eye brow, the smiling growing as a involuntary biochemical reaction caused your stomach to do a flip, the instant sexual attraction was almost painful. You watched him run down the street and disappear around a corner, running straight into someone. He paused, threw up his hands in apology to the old woman who he had nearly knocked over. They exchanged a few words before he set off again, running out of your life forever and also out of sight.

"What's up? Falling in love with strangers again?"

You jumped a mile and nearly smacked Emily who had crept up behind you while you were staring at the gorgeous runner. You contemplated her statement for a moment. "Nah." You decided, linking your arm back through hers. "I just enjoy watching people do something they're passionate about."

"You're such a weirdo, but anyway, I was thinking pizza tonight?"


	3. Pizza

The smell of pizza and garlic bread filled the flat. Empty Sainsbury's pizza boxes were overflowing from the bin and a crumpled plastic bag was on the kitchen floor.

"It's a good thing I don't mind about mess."

"You mean that me and Em bribed you with pizza?"

You flashed a smile at your flat mate Nicky. She sat cross legged, her long blonde hair piled up on her head in a twisted knot. She had removed all of her rings in preparation for eating her pizza and they lay in a small pile beside her. One of them was turquoise and matched perfectly with her tribal print leggings. Her lightly tanned hands clutched around a slice of goats cheese and spinach pizza seemed to shake a little as she laughed, a rich sound that filled the room with light. Emily sat on the chair, her ankles crossed and a plate carefully balanced on her knees.

"Theres always that." Nicky mumbled around a bite of pizza. "Anyway, what was this news that you guys had to tell me?" You flashed a glare at Em, who grinned, chewing her pizza. She looked happy with her meddling. "Nothing." You mumble, suddenly not hungry.

"Nothing? Pfft, bitch please." Em said, placing her pizza crust on the plate as she leaned over dangerously to the coffee table to grab the bottle of garlic mayonnaise.

The living room come kitchenette was tiny and filled with food smells. The floor wasn't messy exactly, but there were books pilled in every corner of the room. Mostly collected by the three of you and then stacked in corners, a to-read corner, a read but never throw away and a read and I regret reading it as its so shit pile. The beige carpet was standard post student house attire, as was the sagging fake leather sofa and coffee table marked with years with of cup rings.

"Dan Howell, aka Danisnotonfire, bumped into our chick today! And he even apologised to her, OVER TWITTER!" Emily chirruped the last part of the sentence as if it were something official. Nicky glanced over at you, perfectly plucked blonde eyebrow arched. "I don't know who that is." She stated into her pizza as she continued to eat. Emily's eyes bulged out of her head. "OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?! AM I LIVING WITH PARTICK FROM SPONGE BOB? DO YOU GUYS LIVE UNDER ROCKS TOO?!"

Both of you flinched. Nicky looked alarmed, mouth puckered, filled with pizza. "No," she mumbled around a mouthful of pizza. "We just don't spend as much time on the internet as you do. Besides, Y/N's a marketing assistant and I'm a travel agent, do you think we want to spend more time on the computers than we do for our jobs?"

Em seemed to consider this for a moment, sinking back into the sofa. She seemed momentarily swallowed by the folds of fabric, caught up in thought. You exchanged a glance with Nicky. Nicky looked as equally as concerned. After a split second, Emily placed her plate on the table and moved to the TV in the corner of the room as started messing around with remotes, wires and her laptop.

"Em…?" You asked cautiously. She waved a hand at you, which shut you up. Rolling your eyes, you got up from your position on the floor and grabbed Emily's plate, putting them in the sink on your way to your room.

The house was small, narrow and cramped. You skirted Nicky's bike in the hall, making sure not to burn your ass on the radiator opposite it. On the ground floor was your room at the front of the house, with a small narrow hall that lead to the kitchen/living space, with a small, damp filled bathroom. Top floor was shared by two equally small bedrooms that belonged to Emily and Nicky, though both were as equally as cluttered. You slipped into your bedroom, skirting the edge of your single bed to grab makeup wipes off your night stand. You phone lay, plugged in to the wall charger, screen blank. Rubbing the cloth over your face, you revelled at the fact you'd be able to rub your eyes in a matter of seconds.

You room was white, it was 'rentable' with the lease only being 6 months, it meant that everything had to be able to be packed up easily enough. Everything was packed up in cardboard-boxes already, but each was labelled… that and Nicky had neatly doodled all over every single last one. You grabbed your pj's from the bed and changed, neatly tossing your work clothes into the white plastic hamper. They landed on a pile of dirty underwear. "Probably should do some washing tomorrow…. Or better yet…." You edged sideways between two boxes and grabbed an arm full of clothes from the pile protruding from the washing basket and scuttled to the kitchen, throwing a load in, not bothering to sort.

You glanced back over at the telly. Emily had brought up youtube on the telly, sitting in front of it. She looked like a small child watching a film, the back of her head standing out against bright screen. "You two are going to watch these videos with me until you understand the precious that is Dan Howell."

The sound of Nicky snorting in her sleep awoke you with a start. The three of you were tangled up in the sofa. It was dark outside and the only light in the room came from the glaring of the TV. A new video started playing entitled List of reasons why I'm an awful human being. Dan's face appeared on the screen again. You had become so used to this boys face, you could probably pick him out in a crowd now. His eyes seemed alert and the light bounced off his face, making him look much paler than when you'd met him.

"Hello Internet."A noise sounded in the background of the video. "What the fuck?!"

You froze, hoping neither of your sleeping housemates would wake. Carefully you untangled yourselves from them, praying the sofa didn't squeak as you moved. Gathering your washing from the machine, which was now thankfully finished, you padded back to the hallway and placed items on the radiator as well as Nicky's bike to dry. You noticed you had by some miracle washed your running shorts. You glanced at the wall clock. It was dimly light in the light from the small glass pane above the front door, 3:25. You could probably go for a run in a few hours if your shorts dried in time. You eyed the material with doubt before heading to bed. Pulling back the covers, a thud was heard as your phone hit the floor. You paused, holding your breath. Nicky snuffled from the other room and then all was silent. Breathing a sigh of relief, you looked at your phone. 1 new Buzzfeed news notification. Curiosity pulling at your stomach, you opened it, sitting on your bed. "Dan Howell girlfriend?!" below was a picture, albeit blurry and obviously taken through a window. You inhaled sharply.

It was a picture of Dan falling on top of you.

Sorry I've not been updating, been finishing university and graduating and stuffs. Should be able to update much more often now!


End file.
